She looked up at the dark sky. A snowflake landed on the bow of her lip, and she licked it off. “It feels good to be out of LA.”
He’d been in Los Angeles for less than a day, but he knew how she felt. “Fresh air is good for the soul.”
“Anything has to be better than inhaling smog.”
“Why do you stay?”
“It’s home,” she admitted. “You get used to the traffic, the air quality, and the people after a while.”
He could never get used to those things. Not when places like this existed. “You seem pretty normal for a SoCal resident.”
She laughed. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”
“It was meant as one.” Will took her elbow and helped her up the stairs.
“Thanks.” Kelsey grinned. “Do you open doors and pull out chairs, too?”
“Always.” He smiled. “My parents raised me right.”
He opened the front door.
She stepped inside and gasped. “Oh, Will. This is absolutely beautiful. I can picture it now. Faith could enter down the staircase for the wedding ceremony. We can drape the banister with a floral garland. Very old-fashioned. Victorian, to match the house.”
Will stared at her, trying to figure her out. He couldn’t. “How do you do it?”
“Do what?”
“Picture exactly how a wedding will look. How beautiful, romantic, whatever, when you believe it’ll make no difference in the long run?”
“It’s a gift.” Kelsey shrugged off her coat, and Will hung it on a coat rack. “Who do we have here?” Before Will could answer, she bent over and held her hand in front of Midas’s nose, who sniffed her fingers. “You sure are a sweet kitty, aren’t you? What’s your name, handsome?”
“Midas,” Will answered, not believing what he was seeing.
Midas meowed. He lapped up the attention and rubbed against her hand.
Will’s chest tightened. Most people kept their distance from Midas with only three legs and scars not even his long orange hair could disguise. Yet Kelsey picked Midas up and held him as if he were no different than any other cat. She hugged him close. Nuzzled him. And Midas ate it up. He loved to be cuddled more than anything.
“Listen to you purr,” she crooned. “Any louder and you’d need a muffler.”
Will laughed. “Why do you think we named him Midas?”
Kelsey grinned at the cat. “And to think I thought everythingyoutouched turned to gold.” She kissed Midas’s forehead and then placed him on the hardwood floor. The orange fur ball rubbed against her calf and wouldn’t leave her side.
Not that Will blamed him. There were much worse things in life than rubbing against those long legs.
Will raised his gaze to hers. She stared at him unwaveringly, as if she knew he was checking her out and was curious about his assessment. He had to admit she was physically attractive. Not that he was interested in her that way. If only the voice in his head would stop laughing, stop mocking him. “I’ll show you to your room.”
“Thanks.”
He followed her up the stairs and tried to ignore the sway of her hips. Everything about her oozed sensuality. She seemed interested in him. It would be so easy to make the most of these next two weeks, nothing more than a vacation fling since she would be leaving. But…
He couldn’t.
Not with Kelsey. She was dangerous. Only a few hours in her presence had made his numb heart feel prickly as if a million pins and needles were trying to bring something to life that had been dormant for much too long.
“Do you mind telling me what happened to Midas?” she asked.
“He was in a car accident. He survived. Sara…didn’t.”
